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Wesley Sneijder says that he is extremely surprised

Submitted by gulgol on Wed, 04/08/2015 - 17:01

Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder says that he is extremely surprised and happy with the support shown by the Turkish football fans when he took to the field in a Euro 2016 qualifying match against Turkey.

Sneijder may be playing his football in the Turkish league for some time now, but he still remains a very much an integral part of this Dutch national team. A lot of questions have been asked about the Dutch in recent months after poor form since the World Cup 2014. They have gone some way into answering those questions by getting a draw and a win in the last two qualifying matches.

Netherlands were expected to be comfortable winners against Turkey, but the match ended in a 1-1 draw. Galatasaray forwardYilmaz opened the scoring in the first half but it took an injury time equaliser from former Ajax forward Huntelaar in order to secure the point for Netherlands. The Dutch needed a victory in order to boost their hopes of qualification to Euro 2016. This draw coupled with Iceland winning their match in hand meant that Netherlands are now five points adrift of automatic qualification. They are third in the group stages and will have to go through a play-off if it finishes this way.

“I could not believe it, Galatasaray fans who were supporting Turkey also cheered for me, this just shows what a big club we are, I want to thank everyone that turned out,” said Sneijder. The Dutch midfielder is close to making 100 appearances for the Turkish club. During this period, he has been one of their better players with 30 goals and 14 assists. Still only 30, Sneijder has been linked with a move to some of the top European leagues like the Premier league and the Spanish league.